Food

Food

9:31 am

Fri September 12, 2014

Soybeans in a field in Springfield, Neb., on Wednesday. The nation's corn and soybean farmers will bring in by far the largest harvest ever this year, driving down the price of the commodities, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Around the globe, it's become easier for people to buy food. The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization is reporting that its global food price index has now fallen to the lowest level in four years. That's because of good weather and big harvests in places like North America, Europe and China.

Almost all of the major food commodities have become less expensive: grains, vegetable oils, sugar and dairy products. Dairy prices, in fact, are down by almost 20 percent, compared with their peak a year ago.

Weeknight Kitchen

12:00 pm

Sun September 7, 2014

Jenny Rosenstrach is channeling Julia Child this week with her recipe for Chicken with Artichokes in Creamy Mustard Sauce fromΒ Dinner: The Playbook. The recipe, which is a riff on a classic French pan sauce, will teach you a technique you can use with any protein -- be it beef, pork, chicken or fish.

The practice of making a restaurant reservation, outside of a tiny minority of extra snooty places, is egalitarian. Tables are given on a first-to-reserve basis, and then, at the appointed time, diners are directed to their seats and the meal begins.

But reservation technology is changing, led by a new set of companies and some of the hottest chefs in America. And as they offer alternatives to the standard method of reserving a table, the new technological possibilities force us to examine a cultural practice that first got going in 18th century France.

Weeknight Kitchen

2:43 pm

Wed August 27, 2014

I first tasted this wonderfully fresh salad years ago in a Lebanese restaurant and then recreated my own version. It's a winner for me, as anything with pomegranates or pomegranate molasses makes my mouth water. And it's a lovely change from all the cakes that I have come to know so intimately over the decades.Β Β

Food

9:58 am

Tue August 26, 2014

True story: The first time we went to get this sandwich, they told us they couldn't make it because they were out of glazed doughnuts. We said we'd take it on any kind of doughnut; they said only glazed will do. When we went back to try again, there was a woman at the front of the line having the exact same discussion with them. The third time was the charm β the fattening, fattening charm.

Orange juice has been an important part of breakfast tables since the 1950s, after development of frozen orange juice concentrate made it both convenient and affordable. Back in the 1960s and '70s, TV spokeswoman Anita Bryant even told Americans that "breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine."

Despite all the cheerleading for healthy eating, Americans still eat only about 1 serving of fruit per day, on average. And our veggie consumption, according to an analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, falls short, too.

Let's boldly confront the greatest mystery in all of sport: Why do hot dogs always taste better at the ballpark?

Baseball food has, of course, taken on a much greater variety since 1908, when "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" only celebrated peanuts and crackerjack. But it is another enduring mystery of sport why fans eat during a baseball game, while the preferred mode of cuisine for football is before the game, out in the parking lot β tailgating.

Chances are you haven't considered the tail of the cow that made the milk that goes into your Nestle Crunch bar or the cheese in your (Nestle-made) Lean Cuisine frozen dinner.

But as animal welfare groups report, many dairy cows have their tails partially amputated, or docked, to help keep their udders clean. Not only is docking painful, but it also pretty much disables the cow's personal fly switch, making it more susceptible to fly attacks.

Food

3:53 am

Mon August 18, 2014

Volunteers at the Maryland Food Bank in Baltimore sort and box food donations on a conveyor belt. The bank started working with groups like the USO in 2013 to provide food aid to families affiliated with nearby military bases.

Despite the economic recovery, more than 46 million Americans β or 1 in 7 β used a food pantry last year. And a surprisingly high number of those seeking help were households with military members, according to a new survey by Feeding America, which is a network of U.S. food banks.

Food

3:47 am

Mon August 18, 2014

Whisked bakery founder Jenna Huntsberger (right) and baker's assistant Lauren Moore prepare pies in Union Kitchen, a food incubator in Washington, D.C. Huntsberger says the shared kitchen space and the business know-how she's honed there have played a big part in her success.

Add kitchen knives to the list of weapons that humans are using to fight invasive species. I'm talking about fish who've made their way into nonnative waters.

How do they get here? Sometimes they catch a ride in the ballast water of ships. Or they're imported as live food or dumped out of aquariums. Once here, they can wipe out native fish, trash the ecosystem and wreck the beach business.

Discovery Channel set viewership records in 2013 as millions of people tuned in to watch sharks feed, sharks attack, extinct giant sharks and researchers catch and tag sharks. Discovery's "Shark Week" returned on Sunday, and this year, to the dismay of conservationists, restaurants and markets nationwide are feeding the frenzy with a slew of shark meat promotions.

If you weren't on the guest list for Tuesday's U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit dinner, no need to feel left out. We've got the inside scoop β and a few recipes β for one of the meal highlights.

The White House served tender slabs of Wagyu beef, with a side of sweet potato puree and braised collard greens. To add a bit of African flair, the chefs rubbed on a marinade native to North Africa: chermoula.

Born in Morocco, chermoula is a blend of spices like coriander and cumin along with fresh chilies, giving it a rich herby and spicy taste. Olive oil turns the combo into a paste.

You know how frustrating it is when you can't catch your waiter's eye? He may be thinking the same thing about you.

Diners distracted by their phones have become a real pain in the restaurant business, interfering with the flow of transactions and generally slowing things down.

"I would say probably 7 out of 10 people play with their phones throughout their meals," says Catherine Roberts, general manager of Hogs and Rocks, a ham and oyster bar in San Francisco's Mission District. "People are definitely on their phones excessively. It does gum things up."